History Minute Matthew LyonMatthew Lyon lived a life that made him a witness to some of the most important events and figures of early American History. He was a veteran of the American Revolution, a pioneer, writer, and respected famous politician in an age that included such American giants as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. And his journey would take him all the way to Arkansas. Lyon was born in Ireland in 1749 to a desperately poor family. At...

The apex of futilityLast year The New York Times ran a story about Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York. It focused on his recent work on a number of social causes. The story itself was predictable, except for the following paragraph, which came at the very end. “But if he senses that he may not have as much time left as he would like, he has little doubt about what would await him at a Judgment Day. Pointing to his work on gun safety, obesity and smok...

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Rev. Nicholas DavelaarThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Victory over temptationI am not sure I am ready to declare that temptation to evil is good but it is certainly clear that it is often used by God for good. Immediately following the baptism of Jesus, the Holy Spirit sent Him into the wilderness for the express purpose of being tempted by Satan. Because Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy chapter eight during the temptations, and because both Israel and Jesus were in the wilderness during times of temptations, it seems tha...

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By Pastor Steve EllisonThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

The mysterious ‘R’ Club inquiryWhen I told my coworker, Ryan Smith, that I was going to spend some time in the morgue, he jumped out of his seat. "The morgue? Like, dead bodies?" "More like dead newspapers," I replied. Just through the front entrance, in a room behind the glowing green "The Courier" sign, are thousands of old newspapers, bound together and dusty like ancient tomes. We delve into this archive from time to time when we want to run an old photograph. This is w...

Was he a robber or a flasher? Police say this guy decided to be bothPolice said a Pennsylvania robbery suspect has diversified his criminal portfolio by exposing himself to a shop owner before taking cash and a women’s outfit from a clothing store. Richland Township police Detective Kevin Gaudlip said Tuesday’s heist at the King and Queen Shoppe near Johnstown “was more than just your typical robbery.” Police said the man walked into the store and exposed himself. The befuddled store owner nonetheless helped h...

5 unbelievable reasons clickbait has ruined everything5. No one cares about content In the days of yore, newspapers reckoned (or discovered) that readers read a headline, cutline and the first paragraph of a story — and that's basically all. Unless something hooked them into reading the rest, that's all a reader was willing to give you. So, much thought was put into the content placed in those sections. Newspapers wanted readers to read entire stories, so they devised strategies to draw readers i...

Are schools’ confederate mascots an issue?The Fort Smith School Board passed a motion Tuesday night to ban the Southside High School fight song “Dixie” starting in the 2015-16 school year. The school also plans to remove the rebel mascot in the 2016-17 season. This isn’t the first time a school or a team has elected to abandon controversial mascot characters — Ole Miss abandoned Colonel Reb in 2010 for the Rebel Black Bear, which won a voting contest against the likes of Admiral Ackba...

Feature makes it convenient to find your representativeLITTLE ROCK — The House has launched an improved feature on its website designed to help Arkansans locate their representative, find contact information and learn more about the House districts in our state. Our website has always featured a “Find Your Rep” search tool at the top of the page. Now we have improved that function significantly to show you your representative, his or her picture and contact information, and maps that allow you to ...

Fitness trackers are hot, but do they really help?NEW YORK (AP) — Sales of fitness trackers are climbing, and the biggest maker of the gadgets, Fitbit, made a splashy debut on the stock market Thursday. But will the devices really help you get healthier? Experts agree that getting people to set goals — and then reminding them of the goals — absolutely works, and the wearable devices are built to do that. But evidence people get healthier when using fitness trackers is limited because they are...

A reminder of our historyWhen Dylann Roof, 21, murdered nine people in a historically black church in South Carolina on Wednesday night, he was carrying out an ideology, which, when coupled with a corrupt conscience, results in a perpetual loss of life spanning centuries. But Roof, psychotic and plagued as he was, is not solely responsible for the murders. Because the ideology he carried out is, at least symbolically, supported by the state of South Carolina. The Conf...

Levees and the era of neglectA column with the word “levees” in the headline probably won’t attract a record number of readers. Unless you live in a floodplain, they’re just big piles of dirt, right? Well, not really. The recent floods have drawn attention to Arkansas’ deteriorating levees. Really, “forgotten” is the better word. It turns out that, in many cases, no one’s really in charge of maintaining them, or even caring whether or not they exist. They were built when ...

She was very, very sick — of waitingA North Carolina woman got tired of the wait in a hospital emergency room, allegedly held a lighter up to one of its sprinklers and flooded the room with about half an inch of water. The scene inside the ER was “chaotic and disastrous” as “copious amounts of water” poured down Wednesday afternoon, according to a police report. Katlyn Milligan, 20, told police she waited in the ER of Carolinas HealthCare System-Blue Ridge in Morgantown for abou...

Little Rock Fire Department: Oldest in stateControlling fire has been a concern for cities as long as they have existed. Little Rock has been no exception. The Little Rock Fire Department, the oldest and largest in the state, has undergone extensive changes in its long history. A volunteer fire department emerged early for the city since the early 1800s, but equipment and training were limited. By the 1880s, four stations existed across town for the department. In 1881, the LRFD ordered...

My favorite country acts, songsWe had fun a few days ago by naming some country music acts that are special to us. That wasn’t too hard at all, but here is the kicker! Then you had to add your favorite song by each. That made things a bit tougher. I’m going to give you my list. My wife agreed with several of my picks, but not all. Some of my choices you will call “obvious,” while you may not have heard of some others I went with. At any rate, here is my list. These are in n...

Only one life to liveCONWAY — To be sure, there is a whole lot of meanness taking place in our country today, and even more so in other parts of the world. But in spite of all of this, it is still a beautiful world and we have the opportunity to do good for people while we are here, because someday it will be too late. The truth is, we only have one life to live. We can make the most of it, or we can squander our days until they are all gone. The other day I was r...

No more green and whiteMy high school colors were green and white. At graduation the boys wore green robes and the girls wore white. No one considered the girls inferior because of the color of their robes. Today, we live in different times. My alma mater, Walter Johnson High School in Montgomery County, Md., is one of several schools to have decided that their commencement ceremony this year will feature single-color robes to respect transgender students and those ...

Who lost Iraq?After the pro-Western government of China was forced to flee to the island of Taiwan in 1949, when the Communists took over mainland China, bitter recriminations in Washington led to the question: “Who lost China?” China was, of course, never ours to lose, though it might be legitimate to ask if a different American policy toward China could have led to a different outcome. In more recent years, however, Iraq was in fact ours to lose, after U....

Defection sign of GOP growing painsLITTLE ROCK — An Arkansas lawmaker’s defection from the Republican Party following a split with GOP leaders over moving up the state’s primary elections isn’t a sign the party is in trouble of losing its majority status anytime soon. It does, however, illustrate growing pains Republicans are going to have to manage. Rep. Nate Bell announced he was switching his party affiliation from Republican to independent days after Republican Gov. Asa Hut...

Woman makes laundry list of mistakesReaders of The Courier will recall a 34-year-old Russellville woman was arrested after Atkins police investigators were notified of a debit card used without the owner’s authorization at local businesses and a casino in Fort Smith. A report indicated the woman was identified through a combination of surveillance footage, tips from concerned citizens and use of the Internet. However, the woman’s choice in clothing may have made the difference a...

The catalpa tree carries special meaningAround this time last year I was not-so-patiently awaiting the birth of my daughter. She was about a week overdue and I was round and tired. The catalpa flowers were scattered all over the yard, their sweet smells crushed under my sons’ hyper feet. I mark my mother’s death by the arrival of the monarchs and the mums; my sons’ birth by the tenacity of zinnias and sunflowers. My daughter, she comes with the catalpas. I hadn’t really thought abou...

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Meredith Martin-MoatsThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley